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Chapter 2: An Open Future With No Reverse Gear

Buddha bent down, took a fistful of dry leaves, showed those dry leaves to Ananda and said, “I have said only this much. What I have not said is as much as all the dry leaves in this forest.”

But I don’t want to be so miserly. I want to say to you everything that happens on the path in its minute detail. It is time. Twenty-five centuries have passed since Gautam Buddha. Now man’s consciousness is far more mature. It will not be satisfied with a fistful of dry leaves. I offer you the whole garden; hence I talk about many things which you may think are too far away, are perhaps not going to happen to you. But I say unto you, if you listen rightly everything that I am saying is going to happen. Because it has happened to me, there is no reason why it should not happen to you.

People are very strange. They want great theories, philosophies, but they don’t want a great life. They want to be convinced about great philosophical conceptions, but they don’t want their hearts to become an open flower dancing in the wind, in the sun, in the rain. Whatever they hear they go on accumulating in their memory. First, they never hear the whole thing. Secondly, they hear something else that has not been said at all. Thirdly, they interpret it according to their own prejudice. Fourthly, they simply go on accumulating it. Just becoming a great encyclopedia is not going to help.

Paddy wins some money at the horse races and treats himself to a meal at a fancy restaurant. While his dinner is being served, he notices that the spoons are made of real silver. So he eats quickly, and putting one of the spoons into his pocket, he gets up to leave. Just as he reaches the door, the waiter rushes after him and calls, “Excuse me sir, what about the bill?”

Paddy turns around and shouts, “What spoon?”

His whole mind is concerned about the spoon that he has stolen. Seeing the servant running he knows that he is coming for the spoon. He does not hear the word bill, he hears the word spoon. And we can understand; it is natural. You are so filled with stolen spoons, that when a bill is offered, you immediately react: what spoon?